Monday, October 10, 2011

"A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge is a lushly, lurid, exotically exploitative, sensationally sensual pulp-noir potpourri where star-crossed lovers, sea sirens, monster men, gangsters, porno filmmakers, jazz standards, and an Elvis-spawned zombie apocalypse all intermingle across several parallel dimensions in time and space. This story is unlike anything you've ever read."

Review:

Another neo-noir genre-blender from the wonderful Will Viharo, whose work, this time out, updates a David Lynchesque (specifically: Lost Highway) template, traversing three alternate realities - actually levels - that are grindhouse violent, retro-revering, and over-the-top horrific and pornographic.

When the levels begin to meld, the characters' degeneration, the werewolfery, the zombies (which read like cognizied versions of Lucio Fulci's putrefied undead) and the dizzying swirl-cycle of bloodthirstiness, sex, skewed humor and desperation acelerate into a satisfying come-together finish.

If you're fan of grindhouse, neo-noir, retro-culture horror or science fiction-ish work, you should own this novel, which can be purchased here or on Amazon.com.

Or you can talk to him when he hosts Thrillville, once a month, and buy it from him directly (after he orders it for you).

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Actual Rafiq composed an "original book score" for Mermaid, titled Music for a Drowning Mermaid. This exhilarating four-song instrumental CD, which reflects and complements the mood of the book that inspired it, is on sale at Lulu.com for $8.